Competitive Sites Program FAQ

What is the Competitive Sites program?

The Competitive Sites program is an initiative of Hillsborough County being led by the Economic Development Department to identify, analyze and inventory sites throughout the county with the capacity to support targeted industry office/industrial development and to craft policies and programs to guide public sector engagement and investment in order to meet economic development objectives.

This program is driven by the need to proactively position Hillsborough County sites to win the next targeted industry relocation or expansion, to create better jobs for county residents, attract private capital investment, and increase the tax base for citizens of Hillsborough County.

What is a Competitive Site?

A Competitive Site is a location in Hillsborough County that has been identified as having specific real estate attributes that make it attractive to sizable industrial or office development.

Competitive Sites are located within the Urban Service Boundary (USB) of Unincorporated Hillsborough County. In fact, the more sites that can be identified within the USB makes Hillsborough County more competitive when vying for job generating projects.

There is no limit on the number of Competitive Sites as long as a site meets qualifying real estate attributes. The City of Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City has developed an inventory of Competitive Sites meeting the County’s real estate attributes which is also included within the County’s inventory of Competitive Sites.

Why have Competitive Sites?

Private sector decision making is moving faster than ever. One way that we can position Hillsborough County to win more corporate relocations and expansions is to reduce the timeframe and risk associated with development as well as increase the inventory of site options available to companies.

The Competitive Sites program is designed to do this through increased knowledge of development opportunities, regulatory assistance and strategic public sector investment.

What work has already been completed? What are the next steps?

Economic Development staff has completed analyzing all of the County’s Planned Developments (PD), Developments of Regional Impact (DRI) and land zoned for manufacturing. Staff has performed an initial geo based real estate attribute analysis of the Competitive Sites, followed up by staff reviews, to determine those sites that can be brought to market in a timely manner.

From this information, staff has created a Site File Form for each site that outlines land use, development entitlements, recent development activity, available utilities, road capacities, and environmental conditions. The Site File Forms are available for review on Tampa Economic Development Corporation’s web site at TampaEDC.com/CompetitiveSites.

Staff will work with property owners, businesses and the commercial real estate industry to promote the sites and to identify new sites for targeted industry development. Additionally, staff has formalized an Expedited Permitting process and a Mobility Fee Buy down Program to assist in the time and expense of developing a competitive site.